Chapter Five

Phoenix

Two days. That was how long I’d made myself stay away from my phone, not wanting to experience the letdown if we didn’t have any matches. Keir took calls on our home phone. Clearly, he was staying away as well.

I carried my phone with me to the kitchen to make breakfast. Keir and I had gone on a long flight the night before, trying to work off some of the extra frenetic energy we always seemed to carry in our bodies. If we didn’t burn it off, it came out in growls and snapping at each other and, once in a blue moon, on our employees. Keir and I understood when that happened and blew it off. My employees didn’t, and they shouldn’t have to.

“Smells good,” Keir grumbled, strolling into the kitchen while stretching his arms. Our human bodies were sometimes left achy after the shift. Our dragons were monstrous both in size and attitude, which took its toll on us.

It was better than holding them in and risking them forcing the change in public and possibly burning down a city or seven.

“Coffee in the pot,” I answered. Hell yeah, my cooking smelled good. It was pancakes and omelets stuffed with some of Keir’s smoked meat and veggies. It would’ve been hard to go wrong.

I waited on my friend to get a full cup of caffeine down before bringing up the subject of the app. Once he poured a second cup, I could no longer contain myself. “Did you check?” I asked, plating our food and bringing it to the table.

“Check what?” he asked, not even trying to contain his laughter. “No. I haven’t checked. Not for a lack of want though. I thought I would wait for you.”

“Here we go.” I sat down and filled my mouth with a big hunk of omelet while I clicked on the app and waited. Then I choked on my food as I realized we had over a dozen matches.

“What? Nothing?” Keir was letting me do the checking while he wolfed down his pancakes, cutting the rounds into even strips and then each strip into thirds. He did the same with waffles. Regimented as hell, my best friend was.

“We have thirteen matches.”

“You’re kidding.” He then brought his phone out of his pocket and did some poking around of his own. “Oh shit.”

I snorted. “Told you.”

He scooped up some eggs and chewed while he scrolled. This went on until our plates were empty. “Oh…” he said, sitting up straighter.

“You see something you like?” I asked, chuckling. One female had caught my attention. She had blonde hair and a nice smile, but her profile made my dragon’s breath hot inside me.

She didn’t just need a mate. She needed protectors in the form of dragon shifters. A specific request that brought up questions in my head. Either she had a specific desire for a dragon shifter, and who could blame her, or whatever she needed protection from could only be defeated by a dragon. Two dragons.

Protection happened to be our forte. Now to see if my best friend thought the same. “Keir?” I asked again, deflecting his attention from his phone.

“Tell me which one you’re looking at first. I saw that look on your face.”

“The blonde. Iris. Pregnant and needing protection.”

“That’s interesting.” He turned his phone to face me. On his screen was a selfie of her in what looked like a ratty house or apartment. Chipped paint. Broken baseboards. A window with duct tape along a crack. I paid attention to details. Kind of my job.

“She’s pregnant with another man’s baby,” I said, testing the waters. I didn’t mind that she already had a baby on the way, and my dragon certainly didn’t. He dug his claws in, demanding to go find the woman—right that second.

“She’s beautiful, and look at that smile. My beast isn’t saying anything about the pregnancy, Nix. He wants her. Damn, I haven’t felt a pull to a female since…since before. I don’t even remember it being that strong with her. It’s a picture on a screen. Can this be real, or are we just that fucking horny?”

I snorted. We were horny. We’d had several honeymoon weeks with Rachel, mating and only coming up for air and food, but since then, we’d been celibate. What was the point if a female wasn’t our mate?

“She’s younger.”

He nodded. “Only by a few years. Tell me you don’t want to go protect her from anything on this earth that would cause her harm.”

I glanced back at the pictures she’d submitted. “I can’t. The beast wants to protect her and bring her to our lair.”

Keir blew out a long breath and crossed his arms over his bare chest. “What do we do now?”

I was one step ahead of him. “We can send her a message. See if she’s interested.”

He nodded. “Both of us?”

“I can send a message for us both,” I added.

“Do it.” Keir slapped his hands on the table before picking up our plates. “One way to find out.”

While I messaged her, Keir rinsed and loaded the dishes. If I wasn’t mistaken, I heard him whisper the name Iris before saying he was going to take a shower.

I sent the message then a prayer to Fate. One more smile on us was all it would take.